Born in Baghad, she studied maths at the American University of Beirut – where she later designed a building on campus which was completed in 2014 – before embarking on her career at the Architectural Association in London.

In 1979 she set up her own company – Zaha Hadid Architects.

Her first major commission to be constructed was the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein in Germany.

The striking London Acquatics Centre in Stratford, which resembles a wave, features two 50-metre pools and a diving pool. After being used for the Olympics and Paralympics it was opened to the public in 2014.

“I love the London Aquatics Centre because it’s near where I live,” Dame Zaha said at the time.

London Mayor Boris Johnson wrote onTwitter:“So sad to hear of death of Zaha Hadid, she was an inspiration and her legacy lives on in wonderful buildings in Stratford and around the world.”

Media captionA look inside the London Aquatics Centre

She designed one of the stadiums that will take centre stage at the Qatar World Cup in 2022.

Last year, however, the Japanese government scrapped plans to build the futuristic-looking stadium she designed for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, opting instead for a scaled-down, less costly design.

Riba president Jane Duncan said: “This is absolutely terrible news. Dame Zaha Hadid was an inspirational woman, and the kind of architect one can only dream of being.

“Visionary and highly experimental, her legacy despite her young age, is formidable. She leaves behind a body of work from buildings to furniture, footwear and cars, that delight and astound people all around the world. The world of architecture has lost a star today.”

Analysis: Will Gompertz, arts editor

Dame Zaha Hadid was an extraordinary human being. She was not only one of Britain’s greatest architects, but one of the world’s great architects of the 21st Century and late 20th Century.

She was most famous in the UK for the Aquatic Centre for the 2012 Olympic Games and for Maggie’s Centres in Scotland.

She won the Stirling Prize for architecture twice and was the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize for architecture – Dame Zaha was an extraordinary woman considering where she came from and what she made of her career.

It was very much a man’s world but she was determined to shape it and bend into the way she saw it, into Zaha Hadid’s world.

Her architecture was modern and futuristic with very noticeable sensuous lines, she brought a femininity to Modernism.

Dame Zaha always had a problem in Britain to be taken as seriously as she should have been.

People tried to knock her quite a lot and she didn’t get the commissions she thought she should. She was very frustrated by that especially as she traded very well overseas. I don’t know what the reason for that is but it wasn’t because she wasn’t a great architect.

Her legacy is to prove what can be done; that you can be a Baghdad-born British citizen who can cut through all the red tape, all the machismo, all the macho behaviour and become an internationally-respected architect who creates buildings which will stand the test of time.

And Dame Zaha will be seen as a leading light for any architect, especially female architects who have come from abroad and are living in Britain, to show that they can succeed in this country even through all the brickbats you receive along the way.